I know it just looks like a door, but it's a lot better! Compare it with this, clipped from an older photo. You can see that the door didn't fit well at all, with an increasing gap from top to bottom.
Frankly, I might have been willing to live with that, but the other two problems were potential disasters. The door wouldn't latch completely - it was just held by the secondary latch, which after 65 years has plenty of wear also. Also, the "door check" that is supposed to stop the door from swinging all the way around was broken, so if the door did happen to swing open while driving, it would swing all the way around, destroying both the door and the rear fender!
I removed the door latch and door panel, and it was then obvious why the door was warped - there's supposed to be a diagonal strap in there holding the door straight. It was missing in action!
I won't bore you with all the things I tried that didn't work with the latch. I'll just go straight to the answer. I latched the door handle to the striker separately from the door, and then swung the door shut to see how bad the fit was. It was out of whack! But using washers of various thicknesses, I was able to shim it so that the door latched completely and reliably.
Now, normally that latch would sit on top of the door panel, but it was already in rough shape. Most of the wood was missing, and somebody had previously stuffed a couple of big washers behind the center of the latch trying to make it work. My way is solid, and will keep working. I trimmed the rest of the door panel wood that would have been behind the latch, so that the panel fits around it.
Now the latch was working, but the secondary latch was marginal - I could bump the door and make it release. I fixed that by shimming the striker out a bit with the indicated washer.
Next it was on to the door check. It had sheared off right at the body:
Fortunately, Moss Motors stocks those as part 405-500 for about 30 bucks, and I had already ordered one. First, though, I had to get the old one out, and that was a real trial. It was clearly the original (65-year-old) part, and the stub was thoroughly rusted in place. No amount of pounding nor twisting would budge. I finally had to drill it out. Then it was easy to install the new one - job done.
It didn't bother me that the diagonal brace was missing, because I already knew I was going to replace it. On the day we picked up the TD, Charlie Baldwin noted the warped door and told me of the standard home-shop fix - you use a turnbuckle to tighten it back up. I found lots of pictures of that fix on the web, and found a likely turnbuckle at Lowe's for only $2.56.
The holes in the eyes at each end were a perfect fit for a 1/2" bolt. The only problem is that such a thick bolt head would make clearance more difficult in reassembly. I took care of that by trimming the head on the metal lathe. Here's a comparison shot:
Then I used 1/8" thick, 1" wide steel bar stock and did a bit of measuring, marking, cutting and drilling, and I wound up with this:
It works great! I just needed to replace the door panel and another panel behind the door that I had to remove to gain access to the back of the door check. I put on the door panel and tested, and the door still fit right and latched securely. Success! All that was left was to replace that other panel. But when I did that... the door wouldn't latch anymore. A quick check showed insufficient clearance between the two panels at the bottom.
Sorry it's out of focus. I decided that modifying the back panel would be easier than the door panel, and removed it. It turned out that the bind was an additional piping that was a separate piece, easily removed. I trimmed it at the top of the door, and the repair isn't even visible.
This exercise was well worth the time. I will feel MUCH more comfortable driving this car with a door that feels secure! Thanks to Kelly Williams for the revised title of this post!
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